Baruch Spinoza

Blessed are the weak who think that they are good because they have no claws.

He who loves God cannot endeavor that God should love him in return.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; neither do we rejoice therein, because we control our lusts, but contrariwise, because we rejoice therein, we are able to control our lusts.

The mind has greater power over the emotions, and is less subject thereto, insofar as it understands all things to be necessary.

The highest endeavor of the mind, and the highest virtue, is to understand things by intuition.

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.